Neighborhood contest aims to cut down on garbage

The City of Seattle on Monday announced a neighborhood competition designed to reduce the amount of trash the city produces.

The goal of the competition is to reduce waste tossed in the competing communities by 10 percent. If every resident of Seattle were able to reduce their waste by 10 percent that would amount to 72 tons less waste daily, the city says, the equivalent of nine collection trucks packed full. People are being encouraged to use reusable products instead of throwing things away like paper bags and water bottles.

The competition, developed by Cleanscapes as part of its new solid waste contract with Seattle, ends in early spring 2010. The winning communities will earn a $50,000 reward invested in a community improvement project of its choice, such as public art, pocket park or P-Patch structures — paid for, installed and maintained by CleanScapes.